Found
by DaydreamNationz
Summary: Set after Rick banned Carol from the group, Carol is out on her own and missing Daryl. When he finally finds her he doesn't know how to tell her how much he cares about her. She doesn't know how to either.


DarylxCarol

Carol was out on her own and scared. Rick had made her leave and now she's living in her car with little food left. She's held off most of the walkers but it's getting harder. She needs to find a place to stay with other people.

"Maybe I should go back to the prison" she thinks to herself. She could take her chances with Tyrese and she would be able to see Daryl again. That's all she really wanted was to see Daryl. He was her best friend and she really needed a friend right about now.

"I cant go back, they probably kill me..." She got out of the car with her knife to check her traps she set up. When she came up on the first one it had already been chewed up by a walker, she considered cutting around the chewed part but that would just be suicide.

"Maybe I should just end it" she was so tired and miserable and really was ready to just end it all, she took the gun out of the back of her pants and held it tight in her hand.

"No" she thought

"Not yet I'm not gonna give up yet" She put it back and walked on to the next trap. Carol got one good rabbit out of all 6 traps she set up.

"I wonder if anyone is gonna come looking for me" If anyone were to come looking it would be Daryl. Daryl was always right by Carol's side when she was in danger. She sat down to start up a fire. She remembered when the prison was over run by walkers and T-Dog had gotten bit and she was left to fend for herself. She was so worn out and tired by the time she heard Daryl crying outside of her door slamming her knife on the ground, when he opened the door she couldn't say anything but was lifted up and taken back to the cells. She never did get the chance to thank him. There was a slight rustling in the distance and for just a second she had a glimmer of hope that it might be Daryl. When she turned around there was no such luck, it was a one-armed walker stumbling towards the car there were a few more behind the one but if she got away in time she could make it make to the car without them noticing her. She raised herself up and got out her dagger. She walked towards the biter and ended it quickly. She was so tired that it took almost all of her strength to pull the dagger back out, she tripped on her own feet and went flying backwards.

She hit her head really hard and heard more walkers groaning in the distance, they had heard her yelp and were walking quickly towards her now. She started crying and didn't think she was going to get up her feet were tangled up in some weeds, she knew this was going to happen some day, might as well be today, she clenched her teeth and closed her eyes and waited. She thought of Sophie and she thought of Daryl, how she was never going to get to thank him, or tell him how she really felt. She could tell the walkers were getting closer and she started to cry even harder. Suddenly she heard her name being called in a very familiar voice.

"I'm just imagining this" she thought to herself. But she heard it again, and loud footsteps running towards her.

"Carol!"

"Carol!" She lifted her head up and saw at least a dozen walkers shuffling closer.

"Daryl?" she croaked.

"Carol where are you!" She heard the whirr of an arrow and a walker fell. Two more after that, when one walker came dangerously close she tried her hardest to push herself away, then she saw him, the sun was setting but she could still see his figure running to her.

"Daryl I'm here" The walker by her foot fell from an arrow to the head,

"Oh my god you're alive" he shot down the last walker and ran to her side.

"Are you okay? I was out looking for you and heard you scream, are you bit? please don't tell me your bit" She was surprised by how concerned he seemed to be because he never really shows his feelings.

"Carol answer me" he put his hand on the side of her cheek.

"I'm fine I'm just-" she stopped mid sentence and looked up at Daryl.

"What?" he said and then looked down and realized his thumb was stroking the side of her face.

"Uh, sorry" he quickly took his hand off and rested it on his crossbow.

"It's fine" she said she actually didn't really mind

"Sorry" He said again, he stood up and offered her his hand to get up. She took it and as soon as she was up she went to hug him. She hadn't really thought about what she was doing until she heard the sound of his crossbow hitting the ground, she looked up and tried to take a step back but Daryl's arms quickly wrapped around her. She choked back a sob an buried her head in his chest.

"I thought you were dead" He sniffed and rested his chin on her head and held her even tighter.

Carol felt like she could stay in that hug forever. She loosened her grip slightly and glanced up at Daryl. He finally let go and looked away shyly and picked up his crossbow.

"We should probably get away from this area" Daryl said.

"Yeah" Carol sighed, she bent over to pick up her dagger.

"So where are you set up?" Daryl asked.

"Right up there by the car"

"You have been staying in your car this whole time?" Daryl angrily said taking a step towards Carol.

"Well rick didn't really leave me with much.

"Son of a bitch" Daryl muttered making his way toward the car. When Carol caught up with him she could see the anger in his eyes while he was looking in the trunk.

"I'm gonna kill that son bitch leaving-"

"Daryl" she said,

"Its fine really I've been okay"

"Then why the hell were you laying out there by your self while the walkers were damn near taking a bite out of you!"

"I was giving up Daryl, I had nothing, no food, no camp, and I didn't have you." She was shaking with exhaustion and almost fell over but Daryl ran over and caught her.

"I'm so sorry Carol, I should have looked for you sooner its just Rick didn't tell me until last night." She looked up at him and started to cry again.

"I didn't know what else to do, no one was doing anything about the virus, I - I thought it would stop it"

"It's okay I know why you did it" by this time he had opened the car door and sat her down.

"I just want to go to bed" she sobbed.

"don't you want me to run out and-"

"no" she said

"please just come here. He put the fire out and locked all the car doors and crawled into the car next to Carol. Her eyes were stained with tears from a couple minutes before, he wiped her eyes and gently kissed her forehead. He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up slightly so she was more comfortable laying next to him.

"I'm so glad you came Daryl, I don't know what I would have done if you wouldn't have came." He stroked the back of her head gently noticing some cuts and bruises.

"Its all going to be okay" he said "I'm gonna stay with you until we have this whole this worked out."

"Thank you" she said quietly she fell asleep soon after and Daryl stayed up most of the night to watch over Carol.

When Daryl woke up he lifted his head and found that Carol had gotten up and stretched herself out across the seats and put her head on his lap.

"She is so beautiful" he thought to himself. He shook his head, he needed to stop with all this, he had never really been in a actual relationship with a girl before. He was the one night stand kind of guy. He was normally always with some ditsy kind of girl that would ditch him in the morning. There was something about Carol, he didn't know what it was. She was so peaceful looking while she was asleep, he could also see all the hurt in her face, he didn't know much about her dead husband Ed, he did know that he was a jackass and pretty much just that. He remembered the way she bashed his head in when he had gotten bit, like she was taking out all of her built up anger. He also remembered how he had to hold her back from her own daughter when she walked out of that barn as a walker. He really did want to find her, he was devastated when he saw Sophie stumble out of the barn. He made a silent vow to himself when that happened to always look after her. She groaned and stretched her arms above her head. When she opened her eyes and saw Daryl she smiled and turned around and wrapped her arms around his legs. This is probably the calmest he's been ever since the world went to shit. He wondered if Rick would have noticed that he was gone by now, he had to leave as soon as everybody was in bed, there was no way they would have let him go, much less by himself. He just had to find Carol.

"Morning" he said with a smile

"Hey pookie" she laughed softly

"Oh sush" Daryl joked, Carol laughed and sat up and stretched one more time before looking over at Daryl.

"You must have been really uncomfortable" Carol said with a frown

"Nah I was fine" Carol nodded and reached to open the car door and hopped out.

"I'm gonna go wash up and then I'll head back over here" Carol said

"You can't go by your self" Daryl said

"I think I'll be okay"

"I'm not risking loosing you again, I'll turn around and let you do whatever you gotta do but there aint no way I'm gonna let you go down there without me"

"Fine" Carol muttered

"There isn't really too much to look at anyways"

"What?" Daryl coughed on the swig of water he just took back

"Nothing, come on lets go" Carol grabbed a small towel and took off down towards the small lake that wasn't to far away. Daryl shook his head and took on after Carol.

"Okay time to turn around." Daryl turned his back to Carol and took another sip from his water bottle. He tried to think about anything except Carol washing her clothes in the lake. He tried not thinking about Carol like that, she deserved to be respected, but he couldn't help it when he would think about Carol doing anything else besides, well, being herself. He peeked over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of her shoulder, he took a deep breath in and turned back around. She looked too skinny, she needed to eat, he made a silent note to himself to go out hunting later. Before he knew it he was looking over his shoulder and he saw her hips and backbone, he stifled back a groan as he turned back around.

"Shit!" Carol yelled, Daryl twisted around and quickly covered his eyes not realizing she could still be washing her clothes.

"Is uh, everything, uh-" he cleared his throat and peeked between his fingers to find Carol quickly slipping her shirt back on.

"Yeah everything is fine I almost fell" Carol sighed

"Can I um?"

"Yeah your fine" Carol laughed, Daryl took his hand off his eyes and smirked trying to play off how embarrassed he was. Daryl turned around and started walking back toward the car.

"Don't think your leaving" Carol jokingly yelled

"Whatt'ya mean" Daryl stopped and turned around chewing on his nail.

"Come here" Carol insisted, Daryl made his way over wondering what Carol was talking about. She picked up the washcloth she grabbed before she walked to the a lake and got it wet in the water.

"Don't you think your gonna do anything with that washcloth I'm already clean enough" Carol laughed and walked toward Daryl with the wet washcloth and attempted wiping Daryl's face but he quickly stepped back.

"Oh come on" Carol whined

"No way in hell I'm gonna let you get anywhere close to my face with that thing" Daryl stated, Carol smiled and jokingly took a quick step forward reaching out with the washcloth. Daryl jumped back with a small smile.

"At least let me get under your eyes" Carol pleaded

"Not happening" Daryl warned

"Fine suit your self" Carol said while turning around

"Good" Daryl said wishing she would have put up more of a fight because he like the way her eyes wrinkled up when she got frustrated, he turned is backing looking out at the lake before saying,

"Well then I guess we should head ba-" Daryl couldn't finish his sentence because he felt long arms being wrapped around his shoulders and legs clasping around his waist.

"Carol what the hell are you doing!" he said laughing, Carol couldn't respond because she was laughing so hard trying to get Daryl on the ground. Carol was having a hard time but she wouldn't give up, Daryl wouldn't admit it but he did enjoy all the attention he was getting from Carol. Daryl loosened up a little bit and let Carol get him to the ground. Once he was there Carol got on top of him pinning his arms with her small hands and straddling his waist. If Daryl had wanted to he could have easily gotten her off but he loved hearing her laugh and he really didn't mind being straddled like that.

"Hold still!" she yelled laughing, Daryl pretended to struggle shaking his head darting it away from the washcloth but eventually he stopped letting Carol actually wash his face off.

"I cant believe I'm letting you do this" Daryl moaned

"Just shut up and deal with it" Carol smiled, once she was done she swung her leg around so she was kneeling next to him and she looked down at Daryl.

"See now was that so bad?" Carol asked

"Yes" Daryl grunted

"Oh whatever" Carol grinned and started to stand up but before she could Daryl reached out and grabbed her waist and pulled her back down.

"What are you doing!" She yelled laughing

"Just hold still" Daryl said spinning her around so now she was on the ground and Daryl was pinning her down. Carol smiled but stopped struggling as soon as she realized the way Daryl was looking into her eyes. They stayed there for a moment looking at each other. The only thing on Daryl's mind was how bad he wanted to kiss her at that moment. Daryl grunted looking away and resisting the urge to kiss her.

"Well um" Carol started

"We should probably" Daryl looking back at her trying to finish her sentence.

"Yeah" Carol said looking slightly red in the face. Daryl quickly got off of Carol and stood up. Carol took off and Daryl wasn't to far behind trying to put his mind on something else besides what had just happened.

"So have you tried hunting at all?" He asked trying to cut the awkward tension between them.

"I cant really get anything with just my dagger and the gun is too loud it would attract walkers, I have set up traps but the walkers always get to them before I do." Daryl stopped spotting a small rabbit not to far away. He raised his crossbow and shot it, walking over to the rabbit he heard Carol laugh.

"How did you get so good at that" Carol asked taking the rabbit.

"I dunno" Daryl shyly responded

"Alright alright I wont ask any questions"

"Lets just get back" Daryl wanted Carol to eat more than anything. When they got back to the car Carol went to go start a fire while Daryl cleaned the rabbit. Carol wasn't having an easy time with the fire so Daryl walked over and tired to help"

"Here" he said placing his hands over hers.

"You gotta move quicker with your hands and move them down." He suggested starting to guide her hands along the piece of wood.

"I used up my last match the other day" Carol muttered, Daryl frowned but continued to help get the fire started. Once they had it going Daryl put the rabbit over the fire, he gave her most of the rabbit seeing that she needed it more than he did.

"Thank you so much for this" Carol said reaching over placing a hand on Daryl's knee, he jumped at the touch but didn't make her take her hand off. Carol glanced up at Daryl with wide eyes concentrating on his face studying him closely.

"Its getting pretty dark we should probably get in the car before the walkers start roamin' around" Carol took her hand off of Daryl's knee and got herself up. She opened the car door and placed the blankets around and lowered the seats so there would be more room. She turned around looking for Daryl and saw him tug his shirt off, she could see lots of long scars along his back and his side, she gasped putting her hand over her mouth shocked by all the injuries he had. Daryl turned around looking at Carol realizing she could see most of his scars. She made her way over and traced her finger along one of the worst looking ones, he groaned with a mix of guilt that she had seen them and also because her hands felt incredible on his aching back.

"Sorry" she gasped taking her hand away but soon found her hands on Daryl's chest this time, exploring, being carful of all the little bruises.

"How did this-?" She stopped her sentence when she looked up and saw how heavy Daryl was breathing.

"It- It's nothing he choked out" Eagerly waiting for Carol to start moving her hands again.

"Who did this to you?" Carol asked moving her hands down to his abdomen.

"Long time ago... my dad.. its nothing" Daryl was struggling to make each word come out.

"What do you mean?" Carol looked upset and took her hands away putting them at her side. Daryl groaned louder this time reaching for Carols hands and placing them on his collar bones guiding her hands up and down. Carol was curious about all of his scars but she figured she could ask later, she put more pressure on him and went around to his back rubbing his shoulders and back bones, Carol felt a shiver go up her spine every time Daryl would moan or let out a heavy breath, when she made her way to the front of him again he took her firmly by the waist and leaned over and started kissing and sucking at Carol's neck.

"Oh god" she groaned putting her hand on the back of Daryl's neck tilting her head slightly. Daryl lead her over to the open car and lowered her down not stopping what he was doing. By this time Carol's fingers were tugging at Daryl's hair, making him moan into Carol's neck. They heard shuffling not too far away from the car and Daryl lifted his head.

"Hold on" Daryl breathed out lifting himself up and out of the car to see what the noise was. It was just a walker who must have heard all the noise. he took out his dagger and with one swift motion he ended it, when he came back to the car Carol had curled up into a ball on her side with enough room for Daryl to lay down next to her, he was kind of disappointed that she had already gotten ready to sleep, but he understood,

"Maybe things were going to fast for her" and he respected that so he layed down next to her on his side and wrapped his arm around her and reached over to lock the doors. He soon fell asleep along with Carol.

When she woke up she felt Daryl's arm wrapped around her, she vaguely remembered last night. She decided to go to bed when Daryl got up to check what the noise was because she was incredibly nervous and hadn't done anything like that in a really long time she didn't want to embarrass herself. She still couldn't really believe that all that had happened, she knew she had always felt something more for Daryl, but for some reason in the back of her mind she always knew they would always be just friends. She felt Daryl shift around behind her so she turned around so she could face Daryl.

"Hey there" she whispered quietly, Daryl opened his eyes and smiled at Carol.

"Hey your self" He replied. Carol laughed softly and propped herself up to unlock the car doors. She sat up all the way and stretched her arms above her head and felt Daryl get up behind her. She felt him rub her shoulder as he inched his way out of the car to get something to drink.

"You want some water?" Daryl asked tiredly. Carol stepped out of the car rubbing her eyes.

"Sure that would be great thanks" She reached out her hand to take the water bottle. Daryl grabbed a T-shirt and pulled it on and then grabbed his vest.

"You're running low on food and water." Daryl added while putting his arm through the vest sleeve. Carol sighed

"I know, we could go out hunting today if you're planning on staying." Carol rocked back and forth on her feet looking at the ground. Daryl walked over to where Carol was standing and lifted her chin up.

"Like I told you before I'm staying right here with you until we figure this whole thing out." He gave her a stern look and kissed her gently on the cheek before turning away.

"Thank you Daryl" Carol said.

"Anybody would of done the same." Daryl replied softly.

"No they wouldn't of Daryl." Carol placed her hand on Daryl's shoulder,

"You have done more for me than anybody ever has, what you did for Sophie and how you have protected me, the others gave up on Sophie but you kept looking, that's more than I could ever hope or ask for." Carol could have sworn it looked like a tear fell from Daryl's eye.

"I didn't get to her in time." Daryl said.

"Just like I didn't get to Merle in time" he sighed

"You did everything you could have done." Carol pleaded. Daryl didn't say anything after that. Carol wrapped her arms around Daryl and rested her head on his shoulder.

"You are an incredible person and you don't give yourself enough credit." Daryl remained silent but returned the hug. Carol looked up and Daryl,

"Lets go shoot some shit okay?" Carol playfully pinched Daryl's cheek which made him smile and softly push her away.

"Anything for you pookie" Daryl teased, Carol laughed

"That's right now come on." She picked up her water bottle and dagger and set off into the forest. Daryl loaded his crossbow and put it over his shoulder and followed Carol. They didn't talk about what had happened that night and neither Daryl or Carol were planning on bringing it up. They didn't catch much but they did have enough to last them two or three days. Carol went over to a near by bush to pick some berries while Daryl kept an eye out. Daryl watched as she knelt by the bush and took a deep breath, he had such a strong urge to kiss her, he had all day but he held back because he didn't want to scare her off. He didn't know how much longer he was going to be able to resist.

"Oh fuck it" Daryl breathed out.

"What?" Carol asked confused while standing up and turning around to face Daryl.

"What happened?" But before she could ask anymore questions Daryl had set down his crossbow and was making his way over to Carol, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her up against a nearby tree.

"Daryl" Carol gasped and that's when Daryl leaned in and kissed her, it was slow at first but then they found themselves getting deeper and more desperate, Daryl's tongue quickly found its way into Carol's mouth, Daryl groaned into her and stepped closer so there hips were touching, Carol was lost in the kiss scraping her nails along the front of Daryl's shirt, Daryl was incredibly hard and Carol could tell, they could hear the scraping of there jeans together as Daryl grinded into her. Daryl lifted Carols legs so just her back was up against the tree and her legs were wrapped around his waist. Daryl pulled his shirt off and threw it on the ground and set Carol down so he could het hers off. Once he did he went after her neck and started sucking which only made Carol moan even louder. He licked her collar bone and kissed his way down to Carols stomach until he was on his knees. He gave her jeans a slight tug and the scraped his teeth on her skin on his way standing up. He thought he might be going a little fast but from the looks of Carol she didn't really mind. Carol really actually didn't mind but a small part of her was freaking out.

"Daryl I-" Carol tried talking but was interrupted by Daryl's lips, Daryl slipped Carol's bra off and threw it in the general direction of where his shirt had landed. Daryl's mind was racing, he hadn't done this in so long and he felt like he had been waiting forever. The friction in his pants was starting to become painful, when it became too much he whimpered and placed his hand on the outside of his pants and undid the button. Carol gently moved his hand aside and put her hand where his was.

"Fuck, Carol" He gasped, he thought for a moment he was going to pass out, he had never felt this amazing in his whole life and suddenly became very aware of his surroundings.

"You do realize were in the middle of a forest." He breathed heavily on Carol's neck, she didn't answer at first and slid her other hand down to undo Daryl's pants.

"Does that bother you?" Carol asked, Daryl looked into Carol's eyes for about two seconds before he went back to kissing her.

"I guess I'll take that as a no." Carol laughed, Daryl mumbled something incoherent and tilted his head to go deeper into the kiss. His tongue was exploring her whole mouth memorizing the feel and the taste. Daryl reached down and grabbed the hem of his own jeans and yanked them down kicking them off to the side. Carol pulled away from the kiss for a brief second with a worried look in her eyes.

"Don't worry this is as far as I'm going" Daryl gave her a reassuring look and kissed her lips quickly.

"Well then in that case..." Carol faltered but then slid her own jeans down to her ankles and pulled Daryl's hips into hers. Daryl continued to grind on Carol while kissing her neck.

"Fuck, Carol.. Fucking hell." He was having a hard time breathing much less forming sentences, he knew they couldn't stay there for much longer, the walkers would sooner or later hear them.

"Carol we should really-" Daryl breathed heavily into Carol' neck.

"Yeah we should get going." She pushed him back a bit and looked down slightly embarrassed. Daryl picked her chin up and kissed her for a brief second and then backed away to grab his clothes.

He was slightly disappointed in how quickly she was able to walk away from him but he was also relieved because he was about to not be able to hold himself back any longer. He looked over at Carol slipping her shirt back on. He was breathing heavily and hadn't even picked any of his clothes up yet. Carol turned around to look at him and laughed

"You okay there?" He smiled and took a deep breath, she walked over to him and picked up his shirt and handed it to him

"Uh yeah" He grabbed the shirt and quickly slipped it back on.

"I'm gonna head back to camp.." She brushed her hand along his arm and then walked away.

"God Damnit" He sighed to himself and finished putting the rest of his clothes back on and then headed back to the camp. When he got there he opened the passesnger door and sat down and watched Carol make a fire. He wanted to tell her everything that had happened with his dad and with Merle and how he had gotten all those scars but he didn't want to seem weak, not in front of one of the bravest people he's ever known.

"My dad uh, the scars-" The words seem to spill out of his mouth and he could already feel a knot in his throat. Carol stopped what she was doing and looked up at him with wide eyes. Daryl wished he could take the words back but it was too late.

"Carol I'm" He couldn't finish because if he went on tears would be falling and that was the last thing he wanted to do. He was the tough guy, he wasn't suppose to cry or get hurt, but in this moment he just wanted to break down and cry. Carol got up and grabbed his hand and pulled him up he put his head into her shoulderand let go of sob.

"I'm so sorry Daryl.." Daryl wasn't crying just because of his dad, he was crying because of everything. He was crying because he knew he could never really be worth Carol's time. He spent his whole life running from life and from any form of love that was ever shown to him. With Carol he felt like he could just stop. He felt so pathetic right now. He stood up and backed away from Carol, wiped his eyes and turned away from her, before he could turn around completely he felt Carol grab his arm and turn him back around, she had tears in her eyes. She reached for his face but he moved her hand away. She reached up again and kissed him, her grabbed her waist and leaned into the kiss.

"Its okay Daryl" He smiled and kissed her again.

"I'm so glad I found you." He sighed heavily and bent down to kiss her neck and run his fingers down her back he was so in love with her, he always had been he just never knew how to tell her. He knew it was dangerous to get attached to people in this kind of a world but he didn't care anymore.

"Carol I love you" He looked and her and waited for a response.

"Oh Daryl.." His heart sunk, how could he say that, he backed away from her and she stepped forward and hugged him. She was crying into his chest.

"I love you so much" She let go of him and walked to the back of the car where she had set up blankets. She crawled in and laid down. He crawled in after her, got behind her and held her. She soon fell asleep and he knew that it wouldn't matter where he was a long as he was with her. He closed the back of the car and he fell asleep not long after. He was finally happy and he knew that she was too.


End file.
